the number 2 stories from asia in the pacific on al-jazeera. the stage is set for donald trump's impeachment trial as the u.s. house of representatives hands over the case to the senate. follow on down jordan this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up the u.s. and china signed an initial deal to try to end the 18 months trade war but is only a muted response from stock markets. we're live in the philippines where all eyes are on the tile volcano which is forced thousands from their homes. banks are getting vandalized in the open on

a 2nd night of running battles in beirut as protesters demand action. taken on the crisis. president donald trump is set to stand trial before the senate the house of representatives has delivered the impeachment charges against him to the upper train but from prosecution of abuse of power and obstruction of congress and that makes him the 3rd president in u.s. history to face such proceedings others are castro has more now from capitol hill. inside the locus are the articles of impeachment documents accusing president donald trump of abusing his power and obstructing congress the 7 newly ordained impeachment prosecutors follow democratic members of the house who will argue that trump should be removed from office as president is not above the law he will be held accountable he has been held accountable he has been in huge the senate's

reception of the articles marks the beginning of the trial phase of the crimes impeachment the $100.00 u.s. senators will soon be sworn in as jurors with arguments to begin next week republicans hold the majority in the senate and their leader mitch mcconnell has voiced strong opposition to the impeachment if the senate blesses this unprecedented and diverse house process by agreeing to complete case at a subject of business or enough to impeach a president. we will almost guarantee the impeachment of every future president of either party or the house like that bird trump is only the 3rd president in u.s. history to be impeached he denies the allegations that he withheld u.s. security aide to ukraine in order to pressure ukraine's president volodymyr zelinsky to announce an investigation into joe biden new evidence continues to emerge in the case on tuesday impeachment investigators released text messages and

notes from an associate of trump's private attorney rudy giuliani get the lewinsky to announce that the biden case will be investigated wrote the associate who had been dispatched to ukraine and in a letter addressed to the president of ukraine giuliani says he is acting with trump's knowledge and consent witnesses may tell the truth and witnesses may not tell the truth documents joe generally like whether the new documents or potential new witnesses will play a role in trump's trial is an open question the president's defenders say no the polling shows the majority of americans think the senators should hear new evidence in order to have a fair trial the senate is on trial as well as the president does the senate conduct the trial according to the constitution to vindicate the republic. or does the senate participate in the president's crimes by covering them up at least 4

republican senators would need to agree to open the trial to new witnesses that's possible but the odds for conviction and remove all are much steeper support from 22 senate republicans would be required to make that happen but a historic trial of a president is now guaranteed heidi joe castro al-jazeera washington well in bahrain as a former special impeachment counsel to the house of representatives he says trump sanctions justify his removal from office. i would expect that the democrats in their opening statements will allude to all this evidence that they has recently come up in the last 24 to 48 hours about mr giuliani about documents that suggest that the president knew exactly what was involved with regard to getting a concession from the president of ukraine with regard to investigating the bidens this is a political process if we if it were purely constitutional law might be

a good idea to have all the major constitutional scholars participating in this this is the this is both political and legal but primarily political and for the president to say in effect you are not you the president of ukraine you're not going to get this money unless you do a favor for me that benefits me personally politically i mean that in a nutshell is what went on here to my mind that is far more serious than anything involving bill clinton with his. in getting involved with that in turn in a sexual liaison i mean we're talking about an ally in a hot war and the president is playing games with getting them the aid they desperately need so that he can get some political gain out of it. this is not this

is very serious stuff and if the president is not impeached and removed because of it well. it just shows how political this is. the world's 2 biggest economies of signed a deal to ease their trade war china has promised to increase u.s. imports and strengthen intellectual property rules the next trains the u.s. remove someone tariffs on chinese goods but as mike hanna reports it's an initial agreement and most terrorists remain in place. it was a lovely white house ceremony crowded with have to members lawmakers and executives from large u.s. corporations president trump hailed the deal as remarkable. today we take a momentous step one that has never been taken before with china toward a future of fair and reciprocal trade as we said in phase one of the historic trade deal between the united states and china. together we are righting the wrongs of

the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security for american workers farmers and families the sentiments echoed by china's signatory to the deal drew me down war phone. china and the united states with the larger picture in mind have taken a serious approach to our differences and work to manage them or appropriately reaching the phase one trade agreement that is good for china for the united states in the world. the reality though that this is just an initial deal and many problematic issues in the us trying their relationship remain on address i think that it has moved the needle a little bit with with china and it has made some progress but at the same time i don't think that it achieves the fundamental structural changes that are going to need to happen for us. the u.s. tech sector in particular to really feel comfortable for president trump's

political opponents insist he's being outsmarted by his chinese counterpart i greatly fear that president xi is laughing at us behind our backs for having given away so little at the expense of american workers farmers and businesses the administration in order to get a deal at all costs before the 2020 election. it has thrown the american worker an american business overboard and they're going to be the ones who have to face the consequences and that's the smiles and celebrations the awareness that this is not an end to the trade war as it is at the stage merely the truth. mike hanna al-jazeera washington. while china's foreign ministry has praised the progress in trade talks with the u.s. after wednesday's deal which you don't do to you don't need to do it i can be signing this phase one trade deal being if it's china and the us and the whole world it shows that we can entirely we're cast

a solution that can properly and effectively deal with the relevant issues through dialogue and consultation based on equality and mutual respect. now warnings of another volcanic eruption in the philippines are forced thousands more people to abandon their homes access to high risk areas is limited drone video shows one town near the volcano devastated by falling on buildings have collapsed and evacuation centers across the tongue a province almost full with more than 50000 people are sheltering in evacuation centers across the tongass province jamila in durban joins us live now from one of those in santo thomas city thousands of people have already been moved so what's the latest now on the evacuation and how are people there coping. well daren i am in sense that the mass in the university which now serves as one of the biggest evacuation sites since this crisis began sunday afternoon we've spoken to the site manager earlier who told us that there are around 3000 evacuees here

already and that there are many more supposed to be arriving but they are moving them in different sites it's important to know there are that there are at least 100 over 100 evacuation sites across the provinces of but benghazi and get the well now the situation here although it's getting crowded a little difficult is man. we're seeing a lot of aid coming in from different organizations there friend groups bringing in much needed food blankets clothes and medicine there is also a daily supply of water and but you know it's erin beyond the physical discomfort here we've spoken to civilians who say it is the agony of waiting that makes it difficult that is because alert level is still at the alert level for which means the hazard just eruption is imminent so they're not exactly sure when they can go home because they had to leave everything that they worked hard for behind their children are unable to go to school so now this is exactly what the national

government is asking everyone to be patient because what they need to do is to ensure that when that has or disruption actually strikes almost everyone is ready out of the 14 kilometer danger zone daryn's out of the scientists an explosive eruption of the volcano is imminent or could happen any time now but they've been facing growing criticism of them not because they failed to prevent the scale of these eruptions. well that is exactly what they have also been trying to explain when the disaster the 1st eruptions chuck on sunday afternoon they have already given that warning they have already evacuated people living on around the lake around the crater of the volcano so no one actually died during the explosion shortly after that they started evacuation alert level 2 was race alert level 3 and 4 they are doing the best they can but you know daryn it is not like the coverage or doing monitoring for a typhoon in a typhoon you know exactly when the typhoon will strike and you know exactly when

it will leave an earthquake and a volcanic eruption is difficult to predict so what they're telling us basically is they're asking for international organizations groups to help them better more on the tour but at this point the priority is safety and security of civilians living within the danger zone that's why a total evacuation and lockdown has happened in several towns around the volcano or a judgment and doug remember tongueless province in the philippines john i thank you. all right time for a short break here not just when we come back he is of work up in flames as we look at the economic cost of a strain is unprecedented season. polarized by the arts and become a battleground in the country's political divisions more on that stay with us.

hello again welcome back to your international weather forecast well during the wintertime months it's very common to see in some cities an increase of smog an increase of fog because of the winter time as well as the increase in pollutants that is exactly what we're seeing here in the balkan peninsula this is parts of syria parts of syria as well as belgrade dealing with a very increased amounts of pollutants at the surface and this is only getting worse of the last couple of days unfortunately people dressed illnesses really suffer and these conditions we're going to see more of the same very stagnant situations across much of the southeast over the next few days here now where it's not stagnant is out here towards the west lot of rain a lot of winds for parts of the u.k. all the way down towards western parts of france even over here towards portugal now going to be watching the likelihood of flooding as we go towards the rest of day here on thursday and then that system moves a little bit more towards the east as we go towards friday for parts of the l. so that means you can be seeing some snow in your forecast as we go towards friday evening down towards the southeast though it is going to be the rain continue for

parts of cyprus as well as the coastal areas of libya and into parts of cairo over the next couple of days as we go towards friday do expect to see the rain starting cairo we do expect to see attempt to there about 18 degrees. when is the last time you were out on the streets protesting whether on line you feel the weight of the system going to walk through each and every luggage or layer further and further into the jail or if you join us on say please entry has to start from day one whether again you and attention or you incarcerate this is a dialogue everyone has a voice so far there are studies that support rush coverage will be varying accounts but i want to give people the reason for it join the global conversation on how does iraq.

welcome back to promote about top stories here at this hour the u.s. house of representatives has delivered the articles of impeachment against donald trump to the senate for trial is accused of abuse of power the proceedings are expected to start next week. the u.s. and china have signed the 1st phase of a deal to ease their trade war with china's promise to increase american imports of the u.s. remove her son cars on chinese goods. on warnings of another volcanic eruption in the philippines or forced thousands more people to abandon their homes dragoon video shows one town near the town of ok no devastated but. the occupation centers across bhutan the province of almost full. well there's been a 2nd night of violence on lebanon on the streets over the government's economic

policies security forces fired tear gas on protesters in the commercial heart of beirut dozens of people were injured banks have been restricting access to accounts and blocking transfers abroad and frustration is growing over the lack of action from the government has been following this story since anti-government protests 1st broke out in october. running battles in the streets of the lebanese capital for the 2nd consecutive nights anti-riot police using tear gas to disperse protesters who as you can see are out in force. is growing frustration is growing 11 on it is now the for some months until you stop it. down. 7 people took to the street to the mound change in leadership the country's economy is in near collapse a close close to us here there are signs people vandalizing banks and destroying cash machines really venting their anger at the banking sector. rose capital

to. prevent it from accessing. there deposits the savings there is a cap on that with all of the things that happened that would draw well of lebanese pounds tear gas is being used by my right from the earlier thing protesters were outside at least that was a good. thing yes that was. the low key thing beside her feeling that i have nothing without a substance is a political vacuum and the end of october i think alike and i'm going to have a gut feeling something like. that of. and what what the politicians have been doing is securing amongst themselves. overseas and having united nations a new warning that the situation is quote thing here is dangerous chaos 11 on and

blaming really the politicians for a failing financial system. russian jets of resume bombing of in the province syria's last remaining rebel held area that's despite the safe file that was supposed to come into force on sunday at least 19 people are reported have been killed jabatan singh reports. the today lull in bombing ended on wednesday as russian and syrian jets were reported to have attacked so rebel held town in the northwest province of activist video showed troll vehicles damaged buildings and casualties being treated a representative from the white helmet search and rescue group said civilians were among the casualties and it lived city. did it even in the afternoon it glib city was targeted by sukhoi 23 jets they hit the industrial area and alcohol markets

most of those hurt have serious injuries. al qaeda linked groups of the strongest forces in these areas but the u.n. says some $3000000.00 civilians remain here too under the cease fire brokered by turkey which supports the rebels and russia which supports the syrian government airstrikes were to have ceased on sunday mostly says it's been targeting rebels who've been attacking civilian government held areas in what was supposed to be a deescalation zone brokered in 2018 also by turkey and russia. some 700000 people have been displaced and lived over the last 8 months turkey and russia are reported to have been negotiating the establishment of a secure zone in the region where those displaced can find safety during the winter in addition moscow's and else looks safe corridors have already been established to allow residents that live to cross over into government held territory but it's unclear yet as to how many have chosen to do so she able to unsee al-jazeera.

pressure is building on iran to fully disclose details of the downing of a ukrainian plane of attack iran last week foreign ministers from 5 conference in citizens were killed a meeting in london to press iran to cooperate with foreign investigators all a 176 people on board died most of them canada its government intends to ask iran for compensation for their families after an initial denial iran's military admitted it shut down the jet by mistake russia's president has nominated a bureaucrat with no political experience to replace prime minister dmitry medvedev he resigned along with the entire government soon after a major changes to the constitution were announced by vladimir putin critics say he's paving the way to stay in power a life jonah hill reports it was dramatic and entirely unexpected except the just hours before the resignation of russia's prime minister dmitry medvedev and his entire government the president vladimir putin had called for

government change. move a little slower as he's given. we as the government of the russian federation should provide the president of our country with the opportunity to make all necessary changes to the political system. in the annual live televised state of the nation address putin said that the constitution should be amended to allow parliament to choose candidates for prime minister and the cabinet a power now enjoyed soley by the president and the president he said should in future serve a total maximum of 2 terms putin himself is currently serving his 4th the proposed changes would substantially limit the power of whoever succeeds putin as president after he steps down in 2024 as he's constitutionally bound to do supporters describe the movers deepening democracy empowering elected members of parliament critics however suggest it offers a concrete clue to russia's hottest political question what happens after putin the

answer some believe is more putin's. the main result of putin's address tweeted kremlin critic alexis novell me what kind of idiots and or crooks or all those who said that putin would leave in 2024 the only goal of putin and his regime is remaining leader for life taking ownership of an entire country and appropriating wealth to himself and his friends the russian president seeks to. continue to exert control or the russian political sphere even after he leaves the official office of the president so there's more of is intended to change the. structure of the russian government and sasha way. to possibly move to a different position from which he will be able to do so. but the me of putin has said nothing of his intentions post presidency but he could be planning

a repeat of these 2008 move to become prime minister or take on another senior role a weakened presidency might pave the way for russia's longest serving leader since stalin to take power with him when he goes down a whole al-jazeera. china has pushed the united nations security council to discuss possible solutions in kashmir the internet's been cut since last august when india's government ended kashmir semi autonomous status the un meeting in new york coincided with a visit by pakistan's foreign minister he reiterated the need for international involvement he should leave situation and the question we wish to has been discussed in the security council for the 2nd time in 5 months is a clear indication that. the security council is cognizant

that this issue is on the edge and don't pose to security council and the impression that india tries to give that this is an internal matter is is not predict this is a matter of concern and the international community cannot be the religious of the situation there. now the economic cost of the bushfire emergency in australia is soaring $3.00 and a half $1000000000.00 is the latest estimate as al-jazeera has just got washington reports now from new south wales fruit farmers are among the many devastated by the disaster. it's summer in a stray and this orchard would usually draw hundreds of visit has become to pick their own fruit this is just one of many small businesses devastated by the bush is almost old apple trees were destroyed by flames the trees were uninsured and it cost the family about $1000000.00 to replant them and repair the damage my parents

have in the business for $35.00 yes and it's it takes a bit of a toll emotionally when you say you put so much blood sweat and tears into. the for. many farms around australia had already been suffering through the relentless drought and this bushfire season has just made this situation so much worse but the financial impact of this natural disaster won't just be felt on farms it will be felt around the country. this is a strong longest bushfire emergency the fires began months earlier than normal and . the most severely affected areas only account for about one percent of the economy but the disaster is having a global impact. of tourism coming into this country people are already canceling holidays and whether there's a cost associated with the image of

a strike. analysts have downgraded for costs $1.00 of his biggest banks westpac estimates it could slash half a percent from economic growth already there are around $1000000000.00 worth of insurance claims and the government has committed around one and a half $1000000000.00 to rebuilding infrastructure but it says they could be more money if it's needed scientists say the bushfire season has been exacerbated by climate change and that's put a strain as leaders under more pressure to raise targets to reduce carbon emissions but coal is one of his biggest exports and prime minister scott morrison has said although policies could be involved he won't engage in what he called reckless job destroying targets the government has indicated there may be a formal inquiry into the fires including any role climate change may have had in sparking one of the most expensive natural disasters ever just in washington

al-jazeera built in australia. poland's right wing law and justice party now only want to 2nd time in power last year but the opposition now has a majority in the upper house of parliament as a political debate heats up the battle for control of poland's cultural space is also underway let me bother a force. in the cold night in good danskin thousands of people pay tribute to their form a man. who'd campaign for the rights of migrants was murdered on stage at this very event a year ago. this year's fundraiser here part of a national charity drive raising money for hospital equipment was dedicated to him . it used to be shown live on public television since 2017 it's only been carried by a private channel. this event's been going for nearly 3 decades but in recent years it's become controversial for some people here and it's just one example of the

culture wars being waged between liberals and conservatives. the head of one regional councils actually refused to take part in this year's fundraiser claiming the event had become political this year was supposed to be an owner to my husband who was murdered i asked a dime of which is widow now a center left member of the european parliament and campaigner against hate speech what she made of that maybe they are not aware bad in day or sell of there is a lot of hate there is a lot of maybe disappointment in daily life and a half. bad ideas but as we see in the air by here we have a new. record we gather more and more so that. some poll sympathetic to the ruling lower and justice party see the charity's founder. as a left wing and his politics are at odds with traditional values. it's

a view shared by today's cruise joins people who hosts a current affair sure. television. his liberal attitude is expressed in his motto do whatever you want at the same time he supports very problematic issues like abortion and euthanasia which are contrary to the current government's vision and that struggle for control over poland's cultural space is now moved here in this. between art and society the. center for contemporary art in warsaw the new director here who was appointed by poland's culture minister has spoken of the art world being dominated by a neo marxist ideology saying he wants to promote artists with other views conservative patriotic pro-family this nomination is then a strain of probably close. known for extremely conservative views and. he doesn't have access to our community which will make his

mission extremely difficult poland's political landscape is perhaps more polarized than it's ever been with little appetite for compromise that's only likely to make it harder to see the world through someone else's eyes and the al-jazeera warsaw. the headlines here on the al-jazeera the u.s. house of representatives has delivered articles of impeachment against donald trump to the senate for a trial is accused of abuse of power the proceedings are expected to start next week the u.s. and china have signed the 1st phase of a deal to ease their trade war china's promise to increase american imports and the u.s. removes some tires on chinese goods but china's foreign ministry has praised progress in trade talks with the u.s. after wednesday's deal. if you don't you to eat it later do it i can signing this phase one trade deal being if it's china and the us and the whole world it shows

that we can entirely will cast a solution that could properly a defective lee deal with the relevant issues through dialogue and consultation based on equality and you to respect the warnings of another volcanic eruption in the philippines of force thousands more people to abandon their homes joan video shows one near the top al volcano devastated by falling ash evacuation centers across the tongue a province of almost full pressure is building on iran to fully disclose details of the downing of a ukrainian plane of a terror on last week foreign ministers from 5 countries whose citizens were killed and lead in london to press iran to cooperate with foreign investigators after an initial denial iran's military admitted it shot down the jet a mistake. and russian jets of resume bombing in the province syria's last remaining rebel held area that's despite a cease fire that was closed to have come into force on sunday at least 19 people

are reported to been killed and violence has erupted for a 2nd night in lebanon as capital of the government's economic policies security forces fired tear gas at protesters in the commercial heart of beirut dozens of people were injured banks have been restricting access to accounts and blocking chance for as a broad demonstrators accuse the government a failing to take action. and russia's president has nominated a bureaucrat with no political experience to replace the prime minister dmitri medvedev he resigned along with him tun government soon after major changes to the constitution were announced by vladimir putin critics say he's paving the way to stay in power for life. well those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after the stream states have done so much better. we were told that between russia and has this been addressed by turkey we listen what is the proposal. for

a couple on you know we meet with global newsmakers and talk about the stories that matter. i for me ok and you're in the stream today will social media manipulate the 2020 us election we'll talk to a cambridge analytical whistleblower about how big tech could be undermining the democratic process you too can be part of the conversation really easy to send us your questions and comments via our life you changed. ringback my memory growth not have i low i am. first in uganda and you know in this. in 2018 it was revealed that the now defunct political consulting firm cambridge analytical had stolen the data of millions of facebook users that data was used.